Iran responsive to call for release of 17 Indians aboard seized ship: Jaishankar

Bengaluru, Apr 15 (PTI) India has urged Iran to release 17 Indians onboard a Portuguese cargo vessel seized by the Iranian military, and Tehran was quite responsive, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday. He said there have been some follow-up conversations between the Indian embassy and Iranian authorities.

“Yesterday night, I spoke to my Iranian counterpart (Hossein Amir-Abdollahian). I pressed him. I told him there are 17 crew members from India. We are making the point with the Iranian government that these people should be released, that they should not be detained,” he told reporters here.

On Saturday, the Iranian military seized the cargo ship with Israeli links near the Strait of Hormuz. The ship has 17 Indian crew members. “I’m getting some reports but I want our embassy people to actually go there and meet these people. That will be my first point of satisfaction,” he said. “Secondly, I would absolutely press for the people to come back to India as quickly as we can and my colleague in the Iranian counterpart was quite responsive. He said okay, I understand it. I will try and do something really good,” Jaishankar added.